Air traffic problems in Europe continue
Created: 07/03/2022, 16:17
Strike at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport.
© Bertrand Guay/AFP/dpa
A lack of employees, for example in baggage handling, is currently leading to sometimes chaotic conditions at the airports.
The situation in air traffic is also tense in other European countries - often because of wage conflicts.
Berlin - At the largest airport in Germany in Frankfurt, the current handling problems are now also having consequences for air freight traffic.
A measure to stabilize the entire system is that, in addition to passenger and individual cargo airlines, flights are moved or canceled from peak times to times with less traffic, a spokeswoman for the airport told the German Press Agency on Saturday.
With a view to the lack of staff, the handling of passenger and freight aircraft is being looked at where the need is greatest.
A spokeswoman for the company told dpa that the operation of the cargo airline Lufthansa Cargo was “sensitively” disrupted by the lack of staff in Frankfurt.
On Friday there were four flight cancellations for freight connections and some delays.
In order to take the load off the system, an embargo has now also been placed on various animal species until July 10th.
Last week, the federal government promised a short-term remedy for the shortage of staff at German airports: it wants to allow thousands of foreign temporary workers to enter the country.
Strikes bring additional burdens
Amid the holiday hustle and bustle, the wave of strikes in air traffic in the popular holiday destination of Spain continues to increase.
The cabin crew of the low-cost airline Ryanair wants to strike for a further twelve days in July for better working conditions, as the responsible Spanish unions USO and Sitcpla announced.
Numerous airports are affected by the Ryanair strikes.
Cabin crew in Spain went on strike at the end of June and also between Thursday and Saturday.
The airline "does not comply with court rulings and laws," the USO said.
Minister of Labor Yolanda Díaz must intervene.
The cabin crew of competitor Easyjet also stopped working in Spain for a total of nine days between the end of June and the end of July.
In the case of the British airline, the cabin crew is demanding significantly higher salaries and a limitation on flight times, as is the case in other countries.
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Warning strikes at the Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Paris at the weekend again led to cancellations.
On Saturday, between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m., 20 percent of the planned take-offs and landings were canceled, according to the airport.
As early as Friday, 17 percent of take-offs and landings were canceled.
The strikers are demanding higher wages and better working conditions because of rising inflation.
At the Scandinavian airline SAS, on the other hand, a planned pilot strike has again been postponed.
The airline announced that a new deadline of 12 noon on Monday had been set for the arbitration attempts.
Things are moving forward, but there is still a long way to go, said SAS negotiator Marianne Hernæs, according to Danish broadcaster DR.
The strike by 900 pilots originally announced for Wednesday was initially postponed to Saturday night.
The SAS leadership and the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish pilots have been negotiating a collective agreement for weeks.
Chaos in England
To deal with the chaos in British air traffic, the British government is relaxing take-off and landing rights regulations at airports.
The airlines can now cancel connections and do without the so-called slots without having to fear losing these expensive take-off rights.
This is intended to enable a “more realistic” flight plan.
The airlines must announce their cancellations by next Friday.
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary blamed "the catastrophe" of Brexit for the lack of staff at British airports.
Since Britain left the EU, it has become difficult for airlines to hire EU workers, O'Leary told the Financial Times newspaper.
In view of a number of flight cancellations and delays, the Ministry of Consumer Protection is considering reviewing advance payment practices.
According to a spokeswoman, the department of Federal Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) appealed to the airlines to proactively fulfill their “statutory obligation to reimburse within seven days”, as the “Welt am Sonntag” reported.
"Otherwise you will have to review the prepayment practice in its current form." In the prepayment practice, passengers would have a high risk.
The general manager of the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry, Matthias von Randow, pointed out that every traveler already has the choice of whether to book early and thus use early booking discounts or book and pay at very short notice before departure.
But there are also chaos beneficiaries: The cancellation of domestic German flights increases passenger numbers at Deutsche Bahn.
"In the current situation, more and more people are using the train instead of the plane in Germany," said a spokesman for the "Spiegel".
According to the report, Sprinter trains along domestic German flight routes are booked up 40 percent more, with the airlines buying many tickets as replacements for canceled flights.
dpa